


Maybe This is Our Last

by emilymarie (by_emilymarie)



Series: Random Kpop One Shots [10]
Category: UP10TION, X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Angst, Foster Care, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25229359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/by_emilymarie/pseuds/emilymarie
Summary: Idk angsty shit because challenges and spite for others.
Series: Random Kpop One Shots [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1393027





	Maybe This is Our Last

⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

Maybe today will be different.

Maybe today I won’t get hurt.

_ Maybe _

_ Maybe _

_ Maybe _

Maybe today is the last time.

─── ⋅◈⋅ ───

I wince as I roll onto my side. I lift my shirt and see a large bruise taking up the space over my ribcage. I yank down my shirt before any of the littles see and push myself off the bed.

“Wooseok!” Yoona catapults herself into me and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from whimpering in agony. “I thought you were never gonna wake up!”

I set her back on the ground, “Me neither.”

We round the corner and see Dave and Brenda at the counter, arguing over something and blowing smoke all over the house. I push Yoona out the door with me and she runs in the grass. Issac comes around the corner and waves at me.

He chases Yoona around and then comes over to me. “How bad?”

I shrug, “Maybe a broken rib or two? I have a massive bruise though.”

“No shit!” He looks over at Yoona and sighs, “He curb stomps you with those big ass boots and you’re not even whining a little?”

“I can’t let the littles know. They’d be even more terrified of him than they already are.”

“Wooseok,” Issac says, “You’re almost eighteen, you’ll be leaving soon. You can't protect them forever."

I chuckle, “Not if I die before then, yeah."

He rolls his eyes, “Don’t talk like that, dude. It’s depressing enough being in this situation, okay?”

“Yeah, whatever. Come on, Yoona is staring at us.”

And that’s how the rest of the day went, pretending to not be in pain and making sure no one notices.

That’s the thing in this home, we pretend to be fine. The minute you complain about anything, it gets worse. I remember when I first came here, I told Dave that I was still hungry. The next day I wasn’t allowed anything but dinner and they cut my portions in half. I never said anything again.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried getting out. But whenever CPS stops by, they pretend to be saints. They don’t see the look of fear we all harbor, knowing that if we say anything in the moment we are dead.

And when they realized I didn’t care about dying, they started threatening me with the littles. Which has turned into me taking the beatings in their place, further angering Dave. My teachers know but it hasn’t helped. Even running away isn’t an option unless I want to get arrested or risk the littles getting hurt.

Long story short- My life is hell and I’m miserable but that’s just the hand I was dealt. I didn’t ask for my parents to be killed in a car accident and I definitely didn’t ask to be put in foster care. But that’s just what happens when no extended family member is willing to raise a random child.

I say the rest of the day, but there was something off about that night. I could feel it in the way Dave watched me and how Brenda was more generous with my dinner.

She’s far from the compassionate mother I wanted but she’s not nearly as cruel as Dave. She lets Dave do as he pleases with us to save her own skin but I guess I can understand that.

Yoona gives me a hug good night before running off to bed. I feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck and suddenly I feel Dave’s hand yanking me up.

“You don’t think I’m done with you, do you?”

He shoves me out the front door and lights a cigarette. When he lets out a puff of smoke, I decide to do the dumb thing I shouldn’t do. “I’ll be out of your hair in a month, can’t you just pretend I don’t exist?”

A kick to my side and I’m on the ground, “You trying to be smart with me?”

“No.”

He stomps out his cigarette on my side with a huff. He kicks my back with a grunt, “Get your sorry ass into the car.”

I do as I’m told knowing that there is no other option. It’s either cooperate or get threatened into cooperation. Brenda’s in the window, watching us leave and I get the feeling that she knows something I don’t.

The car grumbles with every mile we go, begging to break down right in the middle of the road, but it takes us far enough. Away from anything worth recoginzing at least. It’s dark out here, the only light being that cast from the headlights.

“You really think I’m letting you ever escape me?”

I side eye him, “It’s not like it would hurt you.”

He chuckles darkly, “Listen, boy. It hurts me every day knowing you’re still alive in this world. You should’ve died with your parents in that car.”

“My parent’s shouldn’t have died,” I mutter.

“Care to speak up?”

I shoot him a glare, “They shouldn’t have died. They weren’t speeding, it shouldn’t have been fatal.”

Dave grins, “You’re right, it wasn’t a fatal car crash. Thankfully, I was there to make it so.”

“What are you saying?” He pulls the car over and suddenly the hatred makes sense. “What did you ever have against my family?”

He chuckles, “I’ll give you a break since you were little but your mother was a whore. She jumped between your father and me, day and night. I was her little secret until I found out she was pregnant. Obviously, your father claimed you as his own but I knew better. She refused to get a paternity test and I just knew it.”

“You’re lying.”

“I never wanted to be a father, so I let go of it. She never asked anything of me and it was fine.”

I shake my head, “That doesn’t make sense. Why would you kill them if it didn’t matter?”

He grips the steering wheel, “Your father’s business got involved with mine and suddenly I was out of a job and out of a house. He didn’t even care, he felt like he was the winner and I was just the scum under his shoe.” He punches the wheel and a loud honk blares out making me jump. He laughs darkly, “I told him to sleep with one eye open that day.”

“What did you do?”

He shrugs, “I followed them for a week until they were both in the car. They were going somewhere, somewhere that meant driving through no man’s land. I drove them off the road and they ran into that tree. I just helped the tree crush them.” He grabs at my collar and makes me meet his eyes, wide with hysteria. “They screamed for mercy, they would do anything to live. Watching the life drain from their eyes, the horror slowly replaced by hollowness, it made me feel alive.”

I squirm out of his grasp, “What are you going to do to me?”

“Something I’ve waiting to do since that day you came into my home.” He shoves me backwards, “Get out of the car.”

I scramble for the handle and send out a silent prayer before getting out. Please, let me survive this.

We’re standing 6 feet apart and I can feel the tension in the air. I look out at Dave and see the glint of metal in his pocket, “You don’t need to do this, Dave. You can just pretend like I never existed and I’ll-”

“Shut up, will you?” He laughs, “You sound like Brenda. That dumb bitch just doesn’t get it.” He takes a step towards me, “You never should have been born. I’m just fixing that a little late, that’s all.”

He reaches behind him and raises the gun, “Please don’t do this.”

He fires off a shot and it hits the ground behind me, “Don’t tell me what to do! You will die where your parents did!"

I squeeze my eyes shut and start sending off prayer after prayer to whatever other worldly being wants to listen. Another shot is fired and I feel dirt kick up on my ankle. I open my eyes right as a set of lights appear in the distance and another shot is fired.

A shout of anguish escapes me and I fall to the ground, feeling the hole that just tore through my stomach. Another shot rings out and I feel the burn in my shoulder. I just know he’s making this as painful as possible, enjoying every second of my pain. I feel the darkness over take me, muffled yelling filtering into my ears as a whimper escapes me.

─── ⋅◈⋅ ───

“Someone call the doctor! He’s waking up!”

I feel a warm hand over mine, “I’m so sorry I let this happen to you.”

I blink at the bright lights and scan the room as best as I can. Brenda’s next to me, tears running down her face, and Issac is on the other side of me, looking pissed. I try to talk but quickly realize that’s not happening with a tube down my throat.

A few nurses come piling into the room along with a doctor. She explains that they needed to help me breathe because of the stress my body was in. There was a third shot that sliced through some important blood vessels but thankfully nothing was critically damaged. Plus there were other injuries that weren't healing properly and causing further issue.

Once the tube is out of my throat, I look at Brenda. “You knew what he was going to do, didn’t you?”

She nods and bursts into another set of hysterics, “He said that if I tried to stop him, he would kill me too. But I couldn’t take the guilt and I told Issac what was going on. We called the police and they rushed out. I never should’ve let you get into that car, regardless of how scared I was.”

I lay my hand over her’s, “You were just trying to survive.” I look around the room and sigh, “What happened to Dave?”

Issac chuckles, “He’s dead.”

“What?”

Brenda shushes him. “There was a stand off and it looked like he was going to shoot you again so,” She trails off, obviously not wanting to talk about this especially with the littles around.

“I’m sorry.”

She scoffs, “Don’t be. He was an abusive husband, if anything this is a gift.” She brushes my hair off my forehead and smiles, “You really upset everyone though. You’ve been out for 2 days, the littles thought you’d never wake up. Plus this one over here,” She bobs her head at an embarrassed Issac, “Refused to leave your side.”

“I just wanted to yell at you. It’s not like I was scared or anything.”

I laugh and reach up to mess up his hair, “I promise not to almost die again, okay?”

He rolls his eyes but smiles, “Whatever.”

I look across the room and spot Yoona staring back at me. She looks like she wants to ask if she can see me now and I bump Brenda’s hand, “Can you get Yoona?”

She does and helps Yoona climb onto the bed, “Be careful, he still needs to recover."

She nods and carefully climbs around the cords and wires that surround me. She finds a comfortable spot at my side and pokes my cheek, “I don’t like it here.”

I nod, “Me neither.” I scrunch up my nose, “It smells weird.”

She lays her head on my shoulder that’s not bandaged, “But I’ll stay with you until you’re better. You have to get better, we already got you a birthday cake.” I look down at her and her eyes are glistening with tears, “You’re going to stick around, right?”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

Brenda claps her hands together, “I am a mess. Does anyone want to come with me to the cafeteria? We can get whatever you want.” She waves at everyone, “You guys figure it out, I need to talk to a nurse and see if we can take Wooseok with us.”

She rushes out the room in a flurry of tears and I chuckle, “I really freaked everyone out, huh?”

Everyone starts grumbling, throwing me dirty looks and eye rolls as if I am such a burden. But I know they’re just masking their pain for my sake. I sigh, “If I wasn’t all battered up, I’d give you all hugs. Thank you for caring about me. If it wasn’t for all of you, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to make it.”

Yoona hums into my side, “We’re a weird family but that’s still a family. And I like it.”

⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

**Author's Note:**

> Definitely intended to kill him off but ehhh, changed my mind. But truly, this was done in spite of people being unnecessarily rude to me


End file.
